News
- Titlee2v drives innovation with 3Dconnexion
- Date16 August 2004
e2v technologies, Chelmsford-based, hi-tech electronics component manufacturer, is a world leading expert in materials science. With as many as 1,600 products on its books at one time the company's design engineers have no shortage of interesting work to do. Ralph Coulson, CAD manager of e2v's Design Services Department believes in making sure that all the design engineers are equipped with the most up-to-date tools, including 3Dconnexion's SpaceBall and SpaceMouse motion controllers.
e2v technologies first opened for business in 1947 and over the years has established a solid reputation for innovation and technical excellence in product design and manufacture. e2v is renowned for the original thinking of its scientists, engineers and technicians and prides itself on fast-tracking bright ideas to market. Fire fighters around the world have come to rely on its Argus® thermal imaging cameras for critical support in saving lives and e2v's imaging equipment is on board ENVISAT, the satellite that monitors world environmental change. The company is responsible for a range of technologies that are assisting scientists and clinicians to identify the markers and precursors to the onset of disease and earlier this year it was awarded its 11th Queen's Award for Enterprise.
e2v operates from two manufacturing sites in the UK - Chelmsford and Lincoln - where it employs over 1200 people. It exports over 65 percent of what it makes and has direct sales offices in the UK, America, France and Germany. The company is a specialist supplier of RF, microwave and sensing components and sub-systems to a wide range of applications. Its products are used in the aerospace, defence, medical, scientific, industrial and commercial industries.
The company is considered to be very progressive, innovative and forward thinking. 'A lot of the work we do is customer-led but a lot of it is pure innovation and the result of e2v exploring new markets,' said Coulson. 'For example we're looking at bio science at the moment so we have a biologist working here which for an electronics company might seem a bit strange.'
Design Services is a centralised department based at the company's Chelmsford site. It is involved with all of the products across the company. 'We were originally a group of satellite design offices so there was a small team dedicated to one product but we gradually moved together and centralised,' explained Coulson. 'We do sometimes put our designers out into some of the manufacturing areas, certainly at concept stages, but on the whole all aspects of design and engineering are run from this site.'
e2v's design engineers are very multi-disciplined. With the company historically being on multiple sites there were lots of different CAD systems being used. 'Everybody uses the same tools and the same systems and all the mechanical designers are also controlled by Design Services,' said Coulson. 'We have 30 employees using 3D systems and 100 using 2D systems. We use Pro/E, Inventor, Viz and AutoCAD plus Ansys and most of the analysis and CFD tools and specialist codes that have been written for us. We have a lot of high-end workstations and technically competent users.'
e2v prides itself on maintaining an environment where users get the most up-to-date equipment and software, the right tools for the job and interesting work to do. In keeping with this philosophy, 3Dconnexion's SpaceMouse and SpaceBall motion controllers have been made available to all mechanical design engineers that want them and have been in use at e2v since 1991.
'I first encountered the SpaceBall at a Unigraphics training course and I thought it was great so when I justified the new CAD system I added on the cost of two SpaceBalls,' said Coulson. 'I then came across the SpaceMouse at a CAD/CAM exhibition and my first impression was 'Wow!' We only have one legacy seat of Unigraphics left at e2v. However over 80 percent of our design engineers are using 3Dconnexion motion controllers with all our other 3D packages. One of the reasons we have such a low turnover of design staff is because we give our users the very best tools for the job.'
With a SpaceMouse or a SpaceBall in one hand and a conventional mouse in the other operators use one hand to navigate around a model while using the other hand to select, modify and inspect. Programmable buttons on the motion controller add extra flexibility by allowing the operator to execute the most commonly used functions of their chosen system without taking their hands from the controls. Some users have found that this approach improves their efficiency by thirty percent.
'One of the biggest benefits when working with different CAD systems and using a SpaceMouse is that you don't need to remember the different controls and keystrokes from one system to another - you just use the SpaceMouse and it provides that common user interface,' explained Coulson. 'I justify it to management as a tool of the trade and it does improve productivity but this is difficult to quantify as most of the time the CAD system is waiting for the engineer. The real benefit to us is a reduction in instances of repetitive strain injury (RSI).'
The results of an independent research project undertaken by Ergonomics Technologies Corporation (ETC), a leading ergonomics consulting firm, suggests that using a 3D motion controller and mouse versus a one-handed work style (mouse and keyboard) results in a two-thirds reduction in mouse movements.
'We take the comfort and well-being of our staff very seriously,' concluded Coulson. 'Our designers indicate that at the end of the day, their hands feel less fatigued and I am sure that if I took my team's motion controllers away I wouldn't get out of the office alive!'